3 people jailed over 3 cases of workplace deaths, including a drowning incident at fish farm

SINGAPORE: A company director of a fish farm, a forklift operator and a crane operator were sentenced to jail over three cases of workplace fatalities.

All three were prosecuted under the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Act, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in an August report on prosecution cases released on Thursday (Sep 7).

CRANE ACCIDENT

One of them was a quay crane operator who was given seven months' jail on Aug 25 after he failed to follow safe work procedures, resulting in the death of a co-worker.

On Mar 11, 2020, Mohammad Asraf Rosli, who was employed by PSA Corporation, was operating a quay crane when he lowered a 20-ft reefer container onto co-worker Varathan Prabu.

Varathan and another colleague were securing containers on board a vessel when the incident happened. Varathan was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.

MOM's investigations revealed that Asraf committed a reckless act by not ensuring that no one was standing beneath the container before he lowered it. 

FORKLIFT ACCIDENT

In another case, Alagappan Ganesan, a certified forklift operator employed by Asiabuild Construction, was sentenced to 18 weeks’ imprisonment on Aug 15.

On Jul 7, 2022, he was operating a forklift in a multi-storey carpark, where Kunjappa Makesh and a co-worker were laying cables.

To prevent the cable from being run over by the forklift, Kunjappa and the co-worker attempted to throw the cable over the forklift, but landed on its rear.

Kunjappa then climbed onto the rear of the forklift. But Ganesan started to reverse the machine, and that resulted in Kunjappa getting caught between the forklift’s overhead guard and a beam.

He was taken to the hospital but died from his injuries.

MOM’s investigations revealed that Ganesan was negligent in performing his duties as a forklift operator.

"He did not pay attention to the environment or perform any checks before operating the machine," MOM said.

MOM also said that operators of machinery such as forklifts or quay cranes must be vigilant and mindful of any workers in the vicinity.

FISH FARM INCIDENT

In the third case, Chan Nyok Fong, a director of Royal Crown Fishery & Trading, was found to be "derelict in her duties" and sentenced on Aug 2 to two months’ jail.

On Jun 11, 2021, a Royal Crown fish farm worker by the name of Ko Ko entered a fishpond to harvest fish.

MOM said he was pulling a fish net across to the opposite bank of the pond at the time, and was spotted struggling in the water.

"He was pulled out of the pond by his co-workers and conveyed to the hospital, where he subsequently passed away," MOM said.

MOM's investigations revealed that Royal Crown had failed to identify hazards relating to fish harvesting and evaluate the risks posed by it. In particular, there was no documented methodology or risk assessment for harvesting fish from the ponds.

Royal Crown also failed to develop safe work procedures to control the risks associated with fish harvesting activities.

"Instead, the company had left it to the workers to decide for themselves on how to carry out the work," said MOM.

The company did not ensure that life jackets were maintained and life buoys were readily accessible. The items were also not appropriately utilised to mitigate the risk of drowning.

It also failed to develop emergency procedures to respond to incidents of falling and drowning.

MOM pointed out that Ko Ko’s co-workers were not trained to perform first-aid or CPR.

As the sole director, Chan was responsible in ensuring that appropriate safety measures were in place, but did not exercise due diligence in doing so, said MOM.

"Instead, she had left the safe work procedures to the discretion of the workers," it added.

In its statement, MOM reminded workers to comply with WSH procedures. Workers should also report unsafe practices to their supervisors or to MOM.

In 2022, there were 46 workplace deaths, higher than the 37 recorded in 2021 and 30 in 2020. The number was the highest since 2016 when there were 66 fatalities at work.

After the number of deaths in a month hit 10 in April 2022, MOM began to tighten safety measures and increase engagement with companies to improve workplace safety.

There were a total of 14 workplace deaths reported to MOM from January to June this year.